CALIFORNIA -- A new petition from Courage Campaign is calling on Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop funding hate and cancel his plans to host a fundraiser for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan - who is supporting Donald Trump for President. Beyond supporting a racist, sexist and xenophobic candidate for President, Rep. Paul Ryan and House Republicans have actively blocked bills to protect LGBTQ people in the workplace, denied climate change, and have consistently advanced the interests of the NRA over those of the overwhelming majority of Americans who favor background checks for gun purchases.

The campaign comes after POLITICO broke the news yesterday that Cook was planning to host a private breakfast fundraiser for Ryan in Menlo Park. The money raised at the fundraiser would benefit a number of House Republicans - many of whom have endorsed Donald Trump’s racist, sexist and xenophobic views of America.

“Apple made major headlines earlier this week when they recognized the dangers associated with Donald Trump’s racism, vitriol and misogyny, and made the right decision not to align their brand with a Trump-led Republican National Convention and his hate-filled rhetoric.” explained Eddie Kurtz, president and executive director of Courage Campaign. “It is saddening to see that just two days after taking that courageous stand, Apple CEO Tim Cook is planning to raise money for the same Republicans that are backing Donald Trump, who have consistently blocked legislation to expand workplace protections to LGBTQ people, denied climate change, and opposed common sense gun safety reform measures supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people.”

In 2008 and 2012, the Democratic and Republican conventions each got about $140,000 in MacBooks and other technology from Apple, but the company has refused to fund or contribute to the 2016 Republican National Convention. Earlier this year, Trump called for a boycott of Apple after the company refused to unlock an iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter.

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